How much emergency food should I store?

Whenever you are preparing an emergency supply store, one of the key considerations to keep in mind is how long that supply needs to last.

We explain what to keep in mind when working out how much food you should store as part of your emergency preparations.

Assessing how long the supply needs to last

You first need to think about the sorts of emergencies and situations that you need to be prepared for.

Are you in a location that tends to struggle with poor weather? For example, do you live somewhere that struggles with large amounts of ice and snow or flooding which can leave you cut off?

Do you have a number of people you're responsible for? This might not necessarily just be family members. You could be creating a food supply for workers on an oil rig and need to know exactly how many people to take into account when creating your food supplies.

Knowing where you'll be and the conditions you will face is the first thing to keep in mind. The second is how long it will take for help to potentially arrive. This has a bearing on the length of time you might be called upon to rely on your emergency food supplies.

This could range from anything to a few hours to a few days or weeks. In terms of looking at the average time for help to arrive, always aim to be ready for the situation where it takes longer. This way you can be more comfortable knowing there's potentially more than enough food.

While this doesn't mean to always prepare for the worst, it can sometimes help to be cautious and plan for a longer length of time than you might necessarily need.

A mixture of foodstuffs

Once you know how long you potentially need your supplies to last you can start thinking about the sorts of items that can go into your food supply.

This can include:

Tinned fruit and veg

Canned meats

Dried ingredients

Freeze-dried meals

It's often worth trying to include a sense of variety. However, you also need to keep in mind the amount of time it takes each item to spoil. For example, tinned tuna will go off long before a freeze-dried meal. This is something to keep in mind when determining how far in advance you want to plan and stockpile your food supply, you need to ensure that whatever options you have in place will still be usable when you need them.

Organising and meal planning

When stockpiling, you should also think about how much space and access to cooking equipment you are likely to have.

Is it better to store individual ingredients or ready-made meals? For instance, if you've got limited space, it might be better to stockpile ready-made dishes as opposed to the various ingredients needed to make something yourself.

This not only helps to reduce the number of items you need to store but also means you make meal preparation easier, giving you more time to focus on other aspects of dealing with an emergency situation.

Doing this also helps you to plan the amount of meals you might need. For example, looking at predefined meals as opposed to individual ingredients can make it much easier to ensure you have enough food stored to last for a defined amount of time.

Each meal will serve a specific number of people or provide an average amount of servings. This can help to calculate how much food you might need for each day, eliminating the calculations needed to work out what ingredients in what quantities are needed to create the same amount of food.

This helps to ensure you have space to help accommodate other supplies and equipment that you will need alongside a source of food as part of your long-term planning and preparation.

Helping you to prepare for any situation

Planning ahead and thinking carefully about your access to food ensures you're ready for when any situation where you need to keep a keen eye on your strength, nutrition and morale.

Fuel Your Preparation's range of freeze-dried meals, and their quality ingredients, are the perfect addition to any emergency food supply - no matter how long you'd need those supplies to last. Our products are:

Freeze-dried to create a product with a lengthy shelf life. Each meal pouch lasts for seven years, while our meal tins last for 25

Expertly cooked prior to being freeze-dried, ensuring they taste fantastic every time

Easy to prepare - by adding hot water to a pouch or portion from a tin you can create a delicious, warming meal in minutes. In extreme cases, you can use cold water. It will take longer to rehydrate but, because the meals are already cooked, they are perfectly safe to eat

Nutritious - bursting with the carbohydrates and protein you need to feel warm and full

With a range of flavours, textures and tastes on offer across our wide variety of meals, our meals and ingredients are perfect for making sure you've got exactly what you need to see you through any emergency situation.

To find out more about our range of freeze-dried survival foods, take a look at our meals page or contact us to speak to a member of our team.